I went to the police station in Sangmu to get my fingerprints. I arrived at 9:50am. I wanted five sets of fingerprints: all just in case one didn't turn out. Plus, I would have one go to my school, one go to my recruiter, one go to the university, one I'll just keep in Chicago just in case... yeah. So the police officers did not understand. At all. "One!" No, five. "One is ok!" No, I want five. I called Minkyu, explained the situation, he talked to the police officers. They went from one paper to being willing to do five, if they could keep one. Fine. We hang up and then the officer asked to speak to a teacher at my school. I call my boss. They talk for a while and I'm told that they can only do two legally. Can I go to another police station to get more? Yes, that's ok. Fine. So this is finally wrapped up and the officer - the same one who changed the number half a dozen times - ends up doing all five papers. It took 50 minutes to argue on the phone and 10 minutes to take my fingerprints. FOR FUCK'S SAKE. I don't. I mean. I can't.

So I have all five papers and it's 10:50am. Should I go home or go to the DHL office in Sinchang-dong to ship my papers? Sooner the better. I flag down a taxi and tell him the address but he doesn't have a navigation system. Fortunately I have a map. We arrive to the right road, right area, but there's no building to be found. What? He stops on the side of a busy highway - people honking and speeding past us - and gets out and goes looking for it. He doesn't find it. Then he stops at a gas station. It's back a block. We go around the block and he gets out and goes looking again. He asks a landscaper. One block away. Christ. So we finally arrive and-- it's a tiny shack of a building, not on the main road, maybe the size of my apartment. The map said it was a big office building. Bull fucking shit. I shipped the documents and made it home at 11:40. The taxi driver spent the entire trip listening to opera. The vehicle shook every time the bass belted out a tune. It took more time to argue on the phone than it took to go to the other side of the city, ship a package, and come home.

Fucking ridiculous, you guys. I have exactly 10 weeks to complete this 10 week process. But you know what? It's out of my hands now!

In other news, my studying is going well, but I am a failure at writing. I don't feel the motivation right now. I'm going to go to bed early, maybe read a bit, and see if I feel up to doing something in the morning. This weekend is going to be hardcore writing/studying madness, you guys. I am going to ask Megan* if she is interested in drinking soju and writing our novels together. I think this has the potential to be an AMAZING idea. And/or awful kind of appalling. You know how it is!

* Megan, do you want to drink soju and write together? Writing together sans-soju would also be an acceptable alternative.